She lifted her hands toward the sky—
White and heavy with snow-laden clouds—
And stretched all the way through
From the tips of her fingers
To the delicate curves of her ankles:
A sound flew and then fell from her lips.
It was a sigh of awake, a dream of asleep—
Her breath still deep but rising to the surface—
She could see the wrinkles of her pillow
Branded into her face, holding on
Until they too had to fall from her cheeks
And rise, like steam from a cup of coffee.
The birds outside her window sang—
Songs of newness, routines and plans—
And then they were muted by the clamor
Of coffee beans bursting with fragrance
And tones more lively than even the birds
Could muster through beaks that sip only water.
She sat at her table wearing pajamas—
White cotton speckled with flowers of pink—
And she touched the tip of her mug
To lips that had not yet spoken into the day
But made only the sound of awake
And she swallowed the warmth as she thought.
Her thinking became clear and her eyes became bright—
Brightened like snow when the sun begins to shine—
A plan began to spin and to whir
Like the cogs in a machine newly oiled,
The sound of movement—of forward—
And she hopped on the sound like a wave.
Into the day she rode on an idea with wings—
The feathers were big like those of an angel—
Her hair blew backward and also to the sides
Into air that felt the way water feels
When at first the faucet cascades
Before the heat of hot has time to warm.
She was not sure where she was going—
The going was more important than the where—
Beating inside her was a heart
Burning inside was a feeling
Rising inside was a hope that
Waking was only the beginning.
© Jill Szoo Wilson, 2026
Tag: Poem About
Poem: The Curve of Time
You might as well befriend the moon–
embrace her clouded peekaboos.
And music . . .
Receive the tune–
you have no time to choose–
alone in a crowd or
with no one in view.
And a smell . . .
Wafts past your nose–
what's that?
Or who?
Perfume on skin or a place that you knew?
Pause.
No need to wonder—you know who that was—
and who you are
as nostalgia winds the second hand 'round.
"Time is a straight line," said he
"It moves consecutively,
watches as it goes
behind and below
like walking on a path
that winds into—
well—
no one knows."
"No one knows,
that's right," said she.
"Simply put, I do agree.
But there's no line to speak of.
Time bends–not like a knee–
more like a finger touching its thumb
or a rainbow finding it's spherical end
and celebrating with a gentle, 'Come.'"
Time returns to the places we've been.
One says, "That memory is far."
Another, "The moment is here to stay."
Yesterday can be put down
but the nows of that day
pop up from the ground
without notice
or sound
to delight or confound–
it depends on the soiled seconds
into which it was bound–
moments become recollections and
recollections are seeds
with a life of their own.
Promises and hope
gentleness and rage
a touch, a glance
a well-appointed room
or a half-written page–
all are sown into our skin
and find their rest in
smiles and tears
repose and toil
love and loss
freedom and cost
and the way the sunlight lay across
the earth at the end or
when it all began.
"That was back then," said he.
"That is today," said she.
The Minutes listened closely,
"There is wisdom in both."
Time smiled wryly
crouched smugly and quietly
behind an Autumn tree
waiting for the final leaf to fall.
© Jill Szoo Wilson, 2025
Poem: Unencumbered
She collected recollections
From the past
As though they were
Trinkets from a shop
Where antiques—
Roughly used and rusting—
Lay waiting,
Lay trusting
Their time would come again.
Again yesterday came
But with a different name
“Today”
So she sat with her
Treasures
Stoic and measured
With a grip not to lose
For if she loosened her hold
They may drip away.
Away from the darkness
Of her previous losses
She looked toward the light
Lost her sight
At the brilliance it held
Shuttered with fear
Melted with doubt
Stifled her silent shout
With a thought.
The thought
A question
Singed with intention
Smoking
Like the barrel of a gun
Prompting her
To run
Instead of stay—
But she stayed.
Stayed in the place
Where she planted the seeds
Grass to grow
To overthrow
The things it seemed
She could not let go
Like a patient
Patiently awaiting
Death.
Death that rides
On the back of loss
That stabs at the fear
Of drawing near
“Don’t move from here”
She whispered out loud
And hoped the desire to move
Would evaporate
Like a cloud.
Clouds of then
Filled the present
A fog in this room
Invaded by the presence
Of shadows—
Not men—
Only places
They may have been
Had they stayed.
Staying threatened her breath
As the air turned white
The longing for safety
Compromised
By this encroaching night
The fear of losing
Being lost from her sight
As a struggle to gain
Awoke to the fight.
Fighting for air
She stood to her feet
Considered her options:
Victory / Defeat—
Destruction seemed easy
To fail is so clean
Triumph unknown
Invites mystery:
Shrapnel of
The unforeseen.
Unforeseen was the way
Mighty was the day
When the roots that held
Were cut away
When her voice
Unvoiced
Found the breath to say,
“Tomorrow
is where my future—
unencumbered—
lay.”
© Jill Szoo Wilson, 2025
Jill Szoo Wilson 